This is the second in our ‘Chrisisms’ series of short, sharp messages from respected industry contributor, Chris Unwin. The articles from Chris that we’ve reproduced here address two simple but fundamental aspects of what it is to be a financial adviser...
Job v Opportunity
If you are a financial adviser and you think you have a great job – think again! There are no jobs in financial advice; only great opportunities.
Do you appreciate the difference between a job and an opportunity? Go to my latest CHRISISM to find out the key distinction between a job and an opportunity.
In a job who determines your income? Your employer i.e. somebody else, and unless you happen to have large amounts of inherited wealth, it will be your income that determines your lifestyle i.e. where you live, what car you drive, where you go on holiday etc. So if somebody else is determining your income, who is determining your lifestyle? Somebody else.
An opportunity turns this model on its head. In an opportunity, YOU determine your lifestyle i.e. where you live, what car you drive, where you go on holiday etc. and as a direct result of those lifestyle choices, you go out and do what is necessary to generate the income required.
Can you spot the difference between these two scenarios? It can be summed up by one word, namely CONTROL. I have realised ever since I became a financial adviser that I was in complete control of how much income I generated, because my income would be determined by the number of clients I took on board, which in turn would be determined by the number of people I sat in front of, which in turn would be determined by the number of invitations I extended to people to come and see me, which would be purely down to my level of activity. Who has always been in control of my activity? ME. Therefore who has always been in control of my income? ME.
So financial services has always been a vehicle that can take you wherever you want to go, but even if you are sitting in the driving seat of a vehicle that can take you wherever you want to go, where is it going to take you if you don’t know where that is? Nowhere.
And that gives rise to the importance of purpose and goals – but that is for another day.
Removing the Fear of the Unknown
When someone meets you for the first time in a business context, they will always have a degree of anxiety in their head. This will be caused by their fear of the unknown. How do you deal with this and how do you put these people at ease and help them relax?
The degree of anxiety in a prospect’s head when they meet you for the first time will usually depend on the relative warmth of the prospect i.e. from where they have been sourced, but even red hot referrals will have some anxiety based on their fear of the unknown.
What is the outcome of this meeting going to be? What is going to be expected of me? What am I going to be committed to? How much is it all going to cost? What is this person going to be like? All these are unknowns at the outset and for this reason it is absolutely crucial that, as early in the piece as possible, you establish and get agreement on the purpose of the meeting you are about to have.
Doing this right at the start of the meeting will remove the unknowns and enable your prospect to relax and it will also ensure that you are both singing from the same song sheet when it comes to the purpose of the meeting, the outcomes that can be expected and what evolves thereafter.
For what it’s worth, what I actually say to my prospect at this point is as follows:-
“My mission today is not to get you to tell me what you would need to survive financially in certain ‘what if’ situations – I’m not interested in that. What I am on a mission to do today is to help you tell me what it is that you would want in terms of outcomes (financial outcomes) in those same ‘what if’ situations, because once you have told me what you would want in terms of outcomes, then I will be in a position to use my expertise in putting together an appropriate combination of types and levels of cover which will be specifically designed to achieve those financial outcomes you have told me you want – and hopefully within an affordable budget. Does that sound reasonable?”
Apart from removing the prospect’s fear of the unknown, what I have also successfully done here is pre-position the concept of a wants analysis and effectively kicked the dreaded ‘needs analysis’ firmly into touch – but that is a CHRISISM for another day!
Chris Unwin is a financial adviser of 37 years standing and has been a specialist risk adviser for the last 22 years. His training and consulting business has operated for 12 years and it specialises in helping advisers across the full spectrum of experience with their client engagement skills, both in the risk advice specific space as well as in the more generic soft skills space.
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